One of the members(djriful) over at overclock.net came from a xonar dx. He has this to say:

"Coming from an Asus Xonar DX, sound coming from the headphones are super clean and there are no more muffle sound. DX isn't bad but the software driver is outdated even a third party support (Uni-Xonar). The equalizer and option sounds are now simply terrible compare to SBX Pro Studio.

What I am saying, I can get the exact sound setting I wanted in SBX Pro than Xonar DX driver. It is way less fatigue from now. Xonar DX setting sound are weird to me from the beginning, it is almost I never understand how is this sound good with these stupid preset."

I came from an Essence STX and to say the least, it sounds pretty good still over a set of headphones. Even better when using line out. If you just play games then you will notice night and day difference from your DX for sure.SBX Prostudio > Dolby Headphones by a longshot. Especially with positioning.

Yeah, I remember that thread. It's presumably also why Frictional Games decided to only officially support the "Generic Software" OpenAL devices for Amnesia: The Dark Descent, even though it sounds like crap compared to a native OpenAL implementation or Rapture3D.

Someone really just needs to pry OpenAL, EAX, A3D, and all that other stuff out of Creative's iron grasp and use it all to create their own gaming audio middleware with a competent support team, something that can dethrone FMOD, while restoring 3D audio to older games, DirectSound3D and A3D titles included. I'd definitely pay up for software that can do that.

Thats odd, I never noticed any muffle on the DX. In fact I noticed very little difference between the DX and STX with my HD598.

I guess he means when using the various effects of the driver/card, both Asus drivers and controlpanel are rather bad so I don't find his obeservation strange at all.

When it comes to pure stereo sound, without any effects, so is the DX almost as good as it gets so anyone stating Z/Zx being "much better" exaggerates. It may be slightly better though, because of the drivers. Personally I use DX and ST in Linux and only for stereo so I'm not affected by the Asus driver-issue. But I'm quite happy to have the Z and not a Asus in my primary Windows-box :-)

Thanks DJINFERNO, I thought I'd have heard back today, but I'm not worried yet. Hope to find out very soon though.
Maybe some will ignore marketing, but marketing isn't all fluff and doesn't have to be a lie, good marketing can really help make clear just what a product can offer. It can also work with "public relations" and reach out to game developers, propagating more games that take advantage of a product's features. The newegg interview and Creative's current YouTube videos are not quality marketing.

BababooeyHTJ,
Creative's support could definitely make a difference, also see above, but isn't OpenAL an open-source library not owned by Creative?

Thanks DJINFERNO, I thought I'd have heard back today, but I'm not worried yet. Hope to find out very soon though.
Maybe some will ignore marketing, but marketing isn't all fluff and doesn't have to be a lie, good marketing can really help make clear just what a product can offer. It can also work with "public relations" and reach out to game developers, propagating more games that take advantage of a product's features. The newegg interview and Creative's current YouTube videos are not quality marketing.

BababooeyHTJ,
Creative's support could definitely make a difference, also see above, but isn't OpenAL an open-source library not owned by Creative?

Not anymore, openal is now proprietary and maintained by creative. I think the older versions are still open though.

Edit: wow, just read that derailing garbage. Nice that someone slinging personal attacks and swear words about (and getting indignant about someone calling him tone deaf in return... Don't dish if you can't take?) has managed to attract moderator attention and lock an early source of info. In a way, the troll wins. Glad head-Fi is usually less abrasive.

Back on topic... Does anybody know if the Z-series cards can be used on a Mac? I ask, because my Recon3D USB had native drivers and a software suite for OS X.Edited by Evshrug - 2/12/13 at 4:58pm